


together

by watcherscrown



Category: Marvel, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Canon Divergent, Character Study, Multi, dora’s also a lesbian, eddie is bisexual but everyone knows that already, i really like this au personally, my dora / scream au that i’ve been working on, no capitilization because we are not capitalists in this house, scora - Freeform, symbrock
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-17 16:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16520324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherscrown/pseuds/watcherscrown
Summary: focused mainly on eddie and dora, with their experiences in and after they meet their symbiotes.





	1. Chapter 1

i. the broken mirror

there is a time he looks in the mirror at himself and really, really looks. it’s hard to do—there is a crack in the mirror as well, which is distracting. it extends from the right corner of the mirror to the bottom left, and arcs through his right eye if he stands right in front of the mirror. this time he doesn’t trace it as usual. he stares. and stares. he continues to stare until his vision begins to blacken at the corners of his eyes and he can really feel the effect of the couple beers he had earlier. he’s unsteady, and looks away from his own face, trying to figure out, to puzzle out what’s wrong with him.  
his fist comes away from the mirror bloody. he hadn’t realized he had punched it until the shards were decorating his floor in elegant but violent patterns—a testimony to his will and to his weakness. he curses, loudly, and wants to smash all the plates he owns and scream and cry and  
it stops again. he takes a deep breath, gets the broom, and begins his cleanup. it’s methodical and efficient; everything he is not. he picks up a large shard and holds it up to look at it again, one last time, before throwing it in the trash bag. his own eyes don’t seem to want to meet.  
he sleeps fitfully that night. questions of how do i make it through this and what am i doing here and i am so lonely what did i do to deserve this flit through his tired mind. eventually he gives up and rolls onto his back. the black ceiling is more interesting than whatever the hell he’s feeling right now.

let’s look at his house.  
there are three rooms. one bedroom, one kitchen, and one bathroom. the door opens right up to the kitchen, and then there is a short hallway with a bathroom on the right and a bedroom on the left. the table is an old desktop supported by legs of what look to be an old rocking chair. there are three seats around the table: one moth eaten swivel chair, a scratched up wooden chair, and a metal folding chair which looks new. at the swivel chair a laptop is open but not used at the moment, and several papers with angry red stamps punched across the top lay strewn about. there is nothing at the other two chairs.  
there is a single beer bottle laying on the counter, and a tv dinner package in the sink. he doesn’t look at these when he enters the room.  
he closes the laptop and sits on the swivel chair, looking longingly at the wooden chair, with a fondness that suggests a pleasant connotation but also the knowledge of loss. he looks away.

_wake up, eddie. it’s two o clock in the afternoon. make a coffee and open the window._

it’s dark outside, but only for the thick rain clouds and thunder heads that have congregated at his balcony. spires of mist drill their way into the sky. he leaves the balcony door open and listens to the sound of rain as it cascades to the concrete below.  
he talks to himself as he bustles around his little apartment. sometimes it’s just describing his actions and short words such as “there we go”, “okay”, and “stay”. other times he explains in detail what he’s doing to no one at all. a habit he picked up in his loneliness, he assumes. he assumes correctly. 

_—first, we take the coffee filter out and put it in the machine. afterward, we plug it in and let it boil. once it’s done boiling, we..._

_there isn’t a “we” here._

he stops in the middle of what he’s doing. there isn’t a we, right? why does he keep saying we?  
he doesn’t know much about how he feels, but he does know that he can buy a house and it still not be home.


	2. Chapter 2

ii. headlights

 

the motorcycle had to be sold when he moved into his new apartment. instead he traded it out for an old van with a headlight missing.

he knew he had to get it fixed, and soon. cops were crawling all over the city now, ever since the disastrous interview with the life corporation. no doubt the top dog had suggested it to the city; security was tight when a big business rolled in. unfortunately, so was money. so the motorbike had to go.

the man he got it from was in his sixties. he was missing an eye, and had a grey mop of hair on a liver spotted head. he didn’t talk much to eddie as they traded the vehicles. sparse conversation and the passing of torn up bills was all eddie could do to keep from crying. he knew he shouldn’t feel so emotional about the bike; but the trade off was the biggest insult to him. the van already had a nasty temper an needed repairs, but the money he got from his trusted bike would take care of the one headlight.

he drove home in the clunky silver van. it smelled faintly of cigarette smoke, but other than that was clean. the rain and mist had kept on for weeks, and it was so foggy that eddie didn’t have time to slam on the brakes when a deer came bounding out of the side of the road and in front of the van.

 

 _please_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _don’t_ _let_ _this_ _happen_ _please_ _be_ _okay_ _please_ —

 

the car was now backward on the road, facing the opposite way he had originally been going. he takes a few shaky breaths and pulls off to the side of the road to look for the deer. there’s a dent where the headlight was missing, but he didn’t take that into account when he stumbled over to the deer in the grass.

the rain was already filling up its eyes when he got to it. half of it’s face was destroyed—he could barely make himself look at it. that was when the crying hit him, and hard. he got back into his van, and made the drive home, before going to his bed and not moving for the next sixteen hours.

 

eddie wakes up, hoping it was a dream. he pulls himself out of bed and goes to the bathroom, and pauses by the broken mirror on the way in. there’s still a sliver of glass hanging on at the corner of the wooden frame. he ignores it.

 

he needs to go to the store, but he decides to walk, regardless of the weather. he didn’t want to look at the old van for a while.

 

it’s sprinkling lightly on the way to the corner store. his umbrella tucked neatly under his arm and splayed above him, it’s a black stain on the dark sky. his jacket hadn’t been washed in a week or two and he knew he had worn the jeans he was wearing at least six days out of the seven for the week, but he leaves those thoughts alone to think about what he really wants: junk food, and a lot of it.

 

he had twenty dollars to get food with for the next three days. he buys a twenty pack of chicken flavored ramen, two liters of diet coke, and six candy bars. the total comes to 20.07, but the cashier knocks off the last few cents.

 

— _hey_ _man_ , _you_ _doing_ _okay?_ _you_ _haven’t_ _been_ _here_ _in_ _a_ _long_ _time_.

 

— _i’m_ _fine,_ _yeah_. _thanks_ _for_ _knocking_ _off_ _the_ bit _there_. _have_ _a_ _nice_ _day_.

 

— _no_ _problem_ , _you_ _too_.

 

and that’s the extent of human interaction for the the next three days for him. until he goes again and meets dora.

she isn’t there to make friends with him or try and win him over. she’s there for business and business alone.

 

_eddie, listen to me. they’re killing people at the foundation. i know. i work there. everything you said in the interview was true. please, you have to help me._

_listen. i don’t care what happens to the foundation. i’m done with this whole damn city. leave me alone._

she gives him her contact information regardless, and without fail he texts her. he needs to get off his ass and get going again. but what really spurs him on is when maria isn’t there any more when he goes to the corner store.


	3. Chapter 3

iii. front and center 

he is in a delirium. he’s feverish, he’s sweating, crying, eating the most disgusting things because of his cravings. he pukes and screams and doesn’t stop until he looks into his fixed mirror for the first time in weeks. 

_**eddie.** _

and like that, he falls back and is out again.

when he wakes it is to a pounding head and heart. he is tangled in the shower curtain, it wrapped about him in a lover’s embrace—if that lover decided they would like to kill him in his sleep. he shakes it off and away, and looks back into the mirror. nothing is there but his own reflection.  
he needs to eat again, to gain what he lost. he makes his way to the kitchen and in a split second decision instead goes out the door and makes a call.

the restaurant is calm and quiet when he enters. he sees anne—he sees her and dan there too. but he pushes this away and runs to her, babbling about the life foundation, he can’t make himself understood, people are looking and it’s too much and he’s hungry again—  
now he’s in the lobster tank, and splashing quietly in the water as everyone in the restaurant is staring at him. in his hand there’s a half-eaten lobster—

_i didn’t do that, did i?_

anne’s face tells him otherwise. she and dan wrap him up in dan’s jacket and get him out to the car as dignified as possible, given the circumstances.

dan and anne are whispering up front and occasionally looking back to say some soft words or look at him worriedly. eddie’s breaths are coming in short bursts and he can’t focus on what the two up front are saying, but he picks up words like “insanity”, “sick”, and “mistakes”. he can’t make any connections and falls back asleep in the car.

when eddie wakes up he is strapped on an mri table. his eyes open slowly and he glances around.

_—alright, eddie. we’re going to do a little scan, okay? just try to stay still. i promise we’re not here to hurt you. this is where i work. anne’s here too._

eddie nods in mute agreement and feels the table slide into the machine. he doesn’t feel too bad, surprisingly. he feels stiff and tired, but there isn’t much pain. until the machine kicks on and the noises begin.  
the noise is so high pitched it’s tearing through his brain and ears—he’s kicking, screaming, and suddenly he tears his way out of the restraints and onto the tiled floor. he’s coherent again, and the door slides open. 

_—eddie! what was that? what’s going on?_

_—i don’t know...please, i just want to go back to my apartment. i’m so tired._

_—well...we have the tests now, so i guess you can go. call if you need anything. we’re going to put you on a medicine that will help you, okay? it’s a very mild anti psychotic. it’s not because we think you’re crazy; it’s just to lessen the effects of the possibility of, well..._

_—of what?_

_—you might have a brain tumor, eddie. i really don’t know what else to say. go home and get some rest. i’ll order those pills right in for you._

_—okay._

when eddie gets home he realizes he can’t go to sleep. so he cleans as best he can the mess he made before going into the icu. it’s a slow process for certain; it takes a huge amount of effort to even eat for himself. then it happens again.

_**hello, eddie.** _

_who’s there? you talked to me on the way to the restaurant. who are you?_

_**we are venom. i am a part of you.** _

_like a parasite?_

_**do not use that word with me. parasites take and take and take and only hurt their host. i’ve been trying to save your life.** _

_o-okay. noted._

it isn’t until eddie is about to fall asleep that night that he realizes he needs to tell dan and anne. something in him stirs when he has this epiphany—he isn’t dead yet, regardless of what he’d been through. and he won’t be for a while.


	4. Chapter 4

v. mindless

 

dora texts eddie back about the life foundation far too early in the morning. he knows that he needs to do something about it, but can’t decide what. so he doesn’t respond.

 

_—eddie, i have an opening for us to go tonight. i’m the only one on shift and security’s at its lowest._

 

there is a pause, and he fidgets on the phone for a moment before typing

 

_—i’ll be there._

 

the rest of the day passes in peace and sunny skies. the rain has abated, for the time being, and eddie is on the balcony, basking in the light.

 

_**eddie. you are worried.** _

 

_...you’re still here. so it wasn’t a dream._

 

_**of course. you are my host. you are mine.** _

 

_great. but yes, i am worried._

 

there is a sudden feeling of sea sickness and eddie grabs into the balcony railing.

 

_**you are scared.** _

 

_...yes, i suppose so. tonight might end up with my death, knowing that drake guy. i just met dora. i don’t know if she’s setting me up for something. maybe she’s working with him._

 

_**i know. but she doesn’t know about us.** _

 

_no. not about us._

 

eddie relaxes into the word. us. it fills his heart up and he knows he shouldn’t feel so ecstatic—this is a parasite, an alien after all, not a lover or a friend, but even so he holds on to that two-letter word. he can’t remember a time he felt comfortable alone, but he’s not alone, he’s—

 

_**eddie. do not answer the door.** _

 

_what’s happening?_

 

_**don’t answer the door—** _

 

the door caves in regardless. four men enter, guns raised. they are shouting, eddie panics, and puts his arms in the air.

 

_**what are we doing. we look like an idiot.** _

 

_no we don’t!_

 

_**then why are we putting our arms in the air?** _

 

_because it’s a sensible thing to do!_

 

then the tasers hit eddie, chest and back, making him cry out and sink to the floor. he feels fear, but then he feels another emotion: not his, but not unwelcome.

 

rage takes its place and venom takes over.

 

 

when eddie gains control once again, the apartment, the small and not quite home-y apartment, is littered with bodies. he feels guilty. two of four are most certainly dead, and the other two would need to be hospitalized or meet the same fate. eddie picks up his phone and dials nine one one.

 

_—i need an ambulance. there are two men here who need immediate assistance. the other two are dead. my address is—_

 

he gives the address, and hangs up. eddie goes to his bedroom to begin stuffing the most important things of his into his backpack. laptop, phone, a couple changes of underwear, toothbrush, wallet, and the money he had been saving underneath the potted plant on the windowsill. he adds a few more things to the bag before going out the window and climbing down the fire escape.

 

sirens are screaming past the apartment just as his feet hit the ground. several cop cars are parked out front already, and two ambulances are pulling in. nobody sees him as he walks quietly through the maze of alleyways that are scattered around his apartment complex. no one bothers him, either. except for one.

 

_—eddie, where are you?_

 

_—did you send those guys to my apartment?_

 

_—no - what are you talking about?_

 

_—i just got my ass tased and killed two people from your shitty life foundation. i want answers now._

 

_—okay, just, please...i’m waiting at the docks. i’ll explain everything. i can only wait fifteen more minutes._

 

_—don’t try anything. we’re still angry._

 

eddie turns the phone off and makes his way to the docks. on the way, venom speaks to him again.

 

_**we did good back there.** _

 

_yes, we did. did we have to kill those people, though?_

 

_**they would’ve killed you.** _

 

_...i know._

 

they don’t talk for the rest of the walk to the waterside.


	5. Chapter 5

iv. blank space 

_three days earlier._

dora knows something is wrong. earlier that day she had been working at the life foundation, doing tests as normal. until drake moves on to human test subjects. they are the most invalid, the most vulnerable, the people who won’t be missed.  
but she knows better.

_how is your family doing, doctor skirth? are they doing okay?_

_...yes, they’re doing fine._

this exchange is dangerous. she knows it’s dangerous. she looks drake dead in the eye and can see malevolence breeding and growing there. the minute she gets home, she buys plane tickets for three. her wife, her daughter, and her son. she can’t leave. she knows that drake will find them if she leaves as well.

_—my love, you have to go. take laura and danny and go._

_—i can’t leave without you, dora. i can’t. we’ve already been through so much, we can’t give up now._

_—killian, please. i - i love you so much, they are going to find you, and they are going to hurt you if you don’t leave. there’s no record of these ticket transactions. please, take the kids and get out of the country._

_—i thought the foundation was doing good things. why are you so afraid? we can’t leave you here with them if they’re going to hurt you, or kill you, or..._

dora presses a kiss to her wife’s mouth. there’s a moment of understanding so strong and deep that passes between them after killian breaks off the kiss—she looks directly into dora’s eyes.

_—call me from the pay phones._

_—always. i love you._

_—i love you too._

and with that, killian takes laura and danny’s hands and leads them to the plane’s gates. dora can’t look back as she walks away, or she knows that she’ll follow them to their new life. she can’t.  
it isn’t until she gets home that she begins to cry.

 

_the present._

dora waits by her car by the waterside, staring out over the dock. it’s dark, and her mood is of a matching tone. everything she is doing is dependent on eddie showing up and being able to credit her in what she’s about to do—

_doctor skirth._

_eddie brock. did you make it over here okay?_

__

_yeah, other than the fact we just killed two people, maybe three._

_i know. i promise i didn’t send those people to your apartment. they know about your little parasite._

_we figured. let’s go. you can explain in the car._

so they board the olive green car and begin their way to the foundation.

_the life foundation is killing people that are sure not to be missed. the homeless, specifically. i can’t prove it on my own. that’s why i need you. you have power in the field of journalism, people will listen to you._

_not anymore. since that first interview, we lost our job. and our fiancé. we can get pictures and write a post and advertise, but there’s no way we can promise people will listen._

_they will. but you have to be ready to fight._

_i’m always ready._

dora explains other things about the foundation: the other symbiotes, the containment for said creatures, and the people and animals that are being used at the moment.

_wait. is there a woman named maria there?_

_maybe. i think so. does she have long brown hair—_

_—that’s kind of curly?_

_yeah._

_that’s her. we’re going to kill drake._

_be my guest._

dora doesn’t talk about her wife and kids. she doesn’t want eddie to betray her and tell drake, if he catches them and tortures them. she knows that she won’t breathe a word of their whereabouts, no matter what is done to her. eddie, on the other hand, regardless of his alien friend hitching a ride, was not to be trusted until he put the dangers of the life foundation into the world.  
they pull into the drive and dora pushes eddie down. he crunches down at the bottom of the back seat until they’re through the gate, and he pops up again.

_that’s the extent of security?_

_well, generally no one’s stupid enough to break into this kind of place. we’d be seen as evil for trying to take down such a heroic team._

_color me stoked._

_they could also kill you in your sleep and make it look like an accident, but that’s besides the point._

_great. i can hardly contain myself._

there’s a moment of silence as dora unlocks the back entrance with her card. eddie and her take the elevator down to the experimentation levels, and share a few more words before he goes and collects evidence against the life foundation.

_be safe. these are real, actual aliens who will kill you. given the chance. don’t touch anything._

_i already have an alien, but thanks for the warning. i’ll try not to touch things._

_ah yes...about that. if you two are bonded fully, it will be extremely painful if drake catches you and separates you two. think of it like marriage, if you and your spouse sewed each other’s internal organs together._

_ouch._

_yes. so be careful and don’t set off any alarms. and don’t-touch-anything!_

dora gives him one last meaningful look before going towards the guard and doing her best to distract him. she knows that this could be the last time she could she sees the lab again, but carries herself with the same determination as she did when she left the airport.

 

eddie, when inside, takes pictures of anything he can. anything from fingerprints that are clear on shiny surfaces to the huddled figures of sick people in their containment cells. at last, he comes to maria’s cell.

she is awake.

_eddie, eddie is that you? please help me, please—_

_i’ll get you out—_

the warning of not to touch anything is forgotten the second maria throws herself against the glass door. eddie punches and hits the control panel, sending it into a panicked, glaring state. then the sirens start. it’s so piercing—even worse than the mri machine. both him and maria cover their ears in a desperate attempt to block it out, but it’s venom who is in a horrible, static pain.

_**we have to get out, it hurts, eddie we need to go!** _

_not without maria!_

_**maria’s too far gone—let’s go! sounds like this are lethal to us!** _

maria lays on the floor, twitching. the glass has broken, through eddie’s barrage of attacks, but eventually she lays still. something comes squirming out of her chest and launches itself at eddie, who is already running for his life. it misses, and eddie slams the door of an unoccupied cell on it, leaving it to shake and shudder at the siren. eddie runs and doesn’t look back, sped on by venom’s strength and endurance.

he has the evidence, but dora is nowhere to be found. he leaves anyways, armed men streaming out into the woods after him.


	6. Chapter 6

iiv. sleep

there are two things eddie knows when anne calls him at his personal number. one, he would have to tell her about venom, and two, he needed to apologize for the things he’d done. he felt that the first thing would be easier to admit.

_eddie, where are you? there are cops all over the city and there was just a break in at the life foundation! they won’t let me into your apartment, there’s way too many police men there._

_i uh...i’m on the run._

_eddie, you didn’t._

_well, technically, it was more than just myself. i have the evidence on the life foundation and i need to get it to the news station._

_eddie, not this again—_

_yes, this again. dora skirth might be dead because of this and i’m not going to let her death be in vain._

_eddie—_

_anne, i’m sorry._

there is a minute of silence, and eddie knows this because he counts the seconds. thoughts spin through his head like a hurricane and he doesn’t know what to think, until anne responds.

_eddie, it’s...not okay, but if you know you’re doing the right thing, i’ll help you. just promise me one thing._

__

__

_anything._

_you have to feed the cat if me and dan go to jail for helping you out._

 

dora is cornered by three men wearing full swat gear. the only differentiation is the life foundation’s insignia on the sides of their helmets, as red as the laser point dots focused across her chest.

_oh, dora. i thought you were smarter than this._

dora’s breath catches in her throat as drake walks from between two of the armor-clad men. he looks as suave and cool as ever, not a thing out of place, even though a major break in has just occurred. 

_what do you mean, doctor drake?_

_don’t play dumb, dora. who did you let into my foundation? was it that man who stole my sweet symbiote?_

_i don’t know what you’re talking about. i came here because of the sirens. i was working late._

_how strange. it says here that you checked in with the gate around thirty minutes ago._

dora knows she is caught — a fly in a web. yet she doesn’t stop looking drake in the eye. she will not show her fear—she convinces herself that she will make it out of this.

_come with me. let’s go to the lab._

dora has no choice but to follow drake down into the partially-destroyed lab. there is glass all over the floor, and a woman, clearly dead, is laying on the cold concrete floor. she must’ve been maria, dora thinks, but doesn’t stare as they walk past. drake shuts off the sirens with a tap on his watch. 

_come into this room here. look around._

she does as she’s told and looks, somewhat uncomfortably, around the glass room. on the far wall, there’s a docking place for a containment unit. dora knows what’s going to happen even before the door slides closed on her.

_this is my legacy. soon you will be a part of it. good bye, dora._

drake doesn’t even watch as he clicks open the symbiote’s container. he simply slides the lock in place on the door and leaves dora to die.

she feels sick as she hears the slick, wet noise of the alien making its way across the floor towards her, but she refuses to show fear. it climbs up her leg and onto her chest, where she watches it sink into her shirt and into her skin. she knows how this goes—she had watched it multiple times. she knows that soon she will be crumpled on the floor, unbreathing and unmoving and left to rot until they get a new test subject. it enters her, and she blacks out.

 

_**dora.** _

_w-what?_

_**you are not going to die. i will stay.** _

_who are you?_

_**together we are scream. other than that, names are inconsequential. you will not be hurt by them.** _

_you’re a symbiote._

_**yes.** _

_will bonding hurt?_

_**only if you want it to.** _

dora cannot move on the cold floor of the facility. she feels a heavy weight on her chest, and she cannot breathe. soon, she’s gasping for air, but in a matter of minutes she is breathing again. she sits up, and vomits violently onto the floor.

_how did you know my name?_

_**i have lived through many on my journey here. they only caught me a month ago. i was...extracted, per se. they murdered my last host. you are a perfect match. more so than my last one. you are everything.** _

_do you know everyone here?_

_**i only payed attention to you. you, and that drake. he has a klyntar as well. riot, they are called. deadly. but we must escape. may i?** _

dora is lifted into the air with ease, the symbiote wrapping itself around her and bringing her of a height with the top of the chamber. dora can see, but it’s from the point of view of someone watching a movie. she sees two grey-black arms streaked with a rusty magenta plunge through the glass, sending the alarms off again.

_**now, dora, we run.** _

and run they do, through the corridors, tearing through the back doors and into the woods where she knew eddie had escaped as well. they don’t stop until they have made it to the waterside, where they plunge in without a second thought. dora can breathe, she finds, even though they’re at least thirty feet under the water. the swim is short, with how quickly scream can move. they make their way to the dock, and lay there, scream shrinking back into their host’s body.

_**we must rest now. then food.** _

_sure._

dora and her symbiote rest on the wet, cold dock and sleep better than they ever had in their lives, separate and together all at once.


	7. playlist interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> here’s a little thing for the music people who read this.

songs i listened to a lot up to this point when writing “together”

\- [ ] hollow — cloudeater   
\- [ ] me and mr. wolf — the real tuesday weld  
\- [ ] airplane mode — limbo (explicit)  
\- [ ] little fang — avey tare’s slasher flicks  
\- [ ] hungover in the city of dust — autoheart  
\- [ ] bellyache — billie eilish   
\- [ ] st. bernard — lincoln  
\- [ ] everybody wants to rule the world — lorde  
\- [ ] grind me down — lillianna wilde (explicit)  
\- [ ] blood in the cut — k. flay (explicit)  
\- [ ] little dark age — mgmt  
\- [ ] who are you really — mikky ekko  
\- [ ] bad guy — set it off  
\- [ ] shutter island — jessie reyez   
\- [ ] done with love — zedd   
\- [ ] desire — meg myers (explicit)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a short chapter, for now. i have lots of school work lmao. this weekend there will be more updates.

vi. awakening

anne picks up eddie outside of his old workplace, shivering and drenched in sweat. he’s breathing heavily, and his eyes are wide.

_did you get the evidence to him?_

_yeah. i also broke a window._

that’s...okay. i’m going to bring you to dan, okay, eddie? he has some things to give you—

_**no mri scans.** _

_no mri scans. they hurt venom. any sounds fifty thousand to sixty thousand hertz are lethal._

_...no mri scans. is it...talking to you?_

_all the time._

_we’re almost there._

anne looks back at eddie, looking him over, but turns around again without a word. she’s not sure what’s happening, but she knows that it’s more than anything she’s ever dealt with.

  
when eddie is given over to dan, anne sees things she didn’t think she would about dan. she notices how calmly he handles eddie, like a parent soothing a child with a fever.

_alright, eddie, lay down on the table, okay? just like that. now this is going to be a little cold, so i’m going to count to three before i touch you. it’s just a stethoscope. i want to get a sound of your heart and lungs._

_okay._

__

_breathe in on the count of three...1, 2, 3. good. lungs sound healthy. heart is nice and strong. the only thing i’m worried about is the thing we picked up in the scan._

_oh...that. dan, i, uh, i have a parasite._

_**do not call us that, eddie!** _

_...i have a symbiote. it’s not harmful, it’s just annoying. and can control me._

_a symbiote?_

dan asks this with polite interest, but anne can tell that he’s thoroughly bewildered. eddie glances around, before saying

_okay, venom. go ahead, show him._

dan visibly recoils when the symbiote snakes out of eddie’s back and looks at him. anne takes a step back as well, but doesn’t seem too shaken.

_that’s one hell of a tumor._

_  
_

_**apologize!** _

_he...wants you to apologize, dan. he doesn’t like the words “parasite” or “tumor.”_

_uh, okay. i’m sorry...venom._

_**thank you.** _

_n-no problem._

dan sways a bit before grabbing onto the chair at his desk. anne walks over to him and puts her arm through his. eddie is busy talking to the symbiote that’s coming out of his shoulder, but it shrinks back in as quickly as it had come out. eddie looks up at the two, eyes braced with walls anne hadn’t known in him before.  
she reaches out her hand.

_eddie, what do you need us to do?_


End file.
